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“It seems a lot of rubber grew overnight” was the response of a prosecuting Garda Sgt when a defendant produced a document from a tyre centre indicating that the front tyre which a Garda registered as bald the day before, met the required legal standard the next day. Garda Sgt Christy Brown made his comment when dealing with a case brought against Richard Doran, Garrurash, Tulla, Co Clare for driving with a bald front tyre. Defending himself Doran was adamant that the roadside measurement of his tyre was a mistake. He argued that he had gone to a reputable tyre business in Ennis the following day and asserted they had found the tyre in question to be of the required standard. However, Judge Faughnan told him that the problem was he had no evidence to support this claim to present before the Court, adding that for all he knew he could have swapped one of his back tyres for the alleged bald one and had that tested instead. The Court heard Garda evidence that Doran was stopped at a Garda checkpoint in Mountbellew on Tyre Safety Day and a Garda used a specialised piece of equipment to gauge the thread of his tyres. They found a front tyre to be 0.02mm in depth when the legal requirement is 1.6mm. Doran said he asked the Garda to carry out the test again, which he did. He was told there was a fixed fine for a bald tyre but was unhappy with the measurement and took his car to be checked out the next day in Ennis. He told the Court that he could, if necessary, arrange for a tyre centre staff member to come before the Judge to testify on his behalf. “There was nothing wrong with that tyre, I’m 100% sure of that,” he said. He insisted that he was not the type of person to drive with a bald tyre and the result of the measurement was simply wrong, adding that the Garda doing the test “had barely touched the tyre.” When it was put to him by Sgt Brown that the Garda who checked his tyre was an expert in such matters, Doran replied: “We all make mistakes, every one of us. The Garda just got it wrong.” Judge Faughnan pointed out that the Garda in question was a trained operative of the measuring device and as things stood he had no proof of whether the tyre tested in Ennis was the same one which failed the roadside test in Mountbellew. However, he said the matter could be sorted out amicably if Doran was willing to made a €100 contribution to the Irish Road Victims Association, a suitable organisation in this case. Doran agreed, made the contribution and the case was struck out. The Road Safety Authority (RSA ), An Garda Síochána, the National Car Testing Service (NCTS ) and the Irish Tyre Industry Association (ITIA ) launched Tyre Safety Day, urging motorists to take greater responsibility for the condition of their tyres and not rely solely on the National Car Test (NCT ) to flag problems.
